Lunch at the Agrarian Kitchen Eatery (Tasmania)

On our recent trip to Tasmania, we decided to have lunch at the Agrarian Kitchen Eatery. We were headed from Hobart to Mount Field National Park for a hike and this spot looked like it had decent reviews and was somewhat along the way. Little did we know that we were actually approaching a much-celebrated Tasmanian institution. And so, unassumingly, we turned up at this two hatted restaurant in our active wear and joggers.

LOCATION

The Agrarian Kitchen Eatery (not to be confused with its associated cooking school) is located in New Norfolk, about a 30 minute drive from Hobart (40 minutes if you are too scared to speed in your rental car like me). The restaurant is in a refurbished building in the Willow Court Asylum – the former mental hospital for convicts. The ceilings are high and the space is light-filled. Even if it were completely full, I imagine it would still feel light and breezy. There are no other activities around the restaurant; the biggest distraction you might get is watching a gardener pulling out weeds through the window or other people oohing and ahhing over their food.

CUISINE

The Agrarian Kitchen is dedicated to local, seasonal produce (demonstrated aptly when we were given a bowl of complimentary radishes, picked straight from the garden). The restaurant only came into existence in June last year, however it was predated by the Agrarian Kitchen School & Farm which was started in 2008. Overall, the food offers a creative mix of flavours and ideas, expertly matched. I mean, they literally wrote a book about it.

PRICE

For such a delicious spread with adequate portions, the price of the dishes was very reasonable. By Sydney standards, they were excellent. The stand-out dish for us was the ‘salad of poached calamari with coriander, wild garlic and guanciale’ which was $21 which I’d happily pay again.